There is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with the 2017 disappearance of Paddy Moriarty, the NT Director of Public Prosecutions has concluded, more than two years after being referred the matter by the NT Coroner.

DPP Lloyd Babb issued a statement on Wednesday morning, confirming there will be no charges in the case that has attracted international attention.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions has determined that there is insufficient evidence to make out a charge against any person in relation to the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty,” the statement said.

“No further comment will be provided by the DPP at this time.”

Mr Moriarty, 70, and his dog Kellie went missing from the tiny town of Larrimah, 500km south of Darwin, on December 16, 2017. His body has never been found despite extensive searches.

In April 2022, then-coroner Greg Cavanagh confirmed police suspicions that Mr Moriarty was dead and had likely been the victim of foul play.

“In my opinion, Paddy and his dog were killed in the context of and likely due to the ongoing feud he had with his nearest neighbour,” Mr Cavanagh said.

“He likely died on the evening of the 16th of December 2017.”

Mr Cavanagh referred the matter to the DPP for charges, but Mr Babb’s office was has now admitted they were unable to make a case for charges against anyone.

The 2022 inquest heard eight tapes covertly recorded by police in the home of Owen Laurie, now in his 70s, in the months following Mr Moriarty’s disappearance.

Mr Laurie worked for long-time Larrimah resident and pie shop owner Fran Hodgetts as a caretaker and gardener, and the pair lived across the road from Mr Moriarty.

On one of the tapes a man’s voice says: “Fucking killed Paddy, hit him on the head. Smacked him on the fucking nostrils with my claw hammer.”

In another, the person strums a guitar and sings: “I killerated old Paddy … I struck him on the fucking head and killerated the bastard … basherated him”.

Mr Laurie told the inquest that the voice in the tapes wasn’t his and then exercised his right against self-incrimination and remained silent in response to the recordings.

Ms Hodgetts produced a complicated narrative to the inquest, in which Mr Moriarty had allegedly repeatedly poisoned her plants, and said the pair had gone through a mediation process in which they agreed to smile at one another and wave if the other waved first, but limit interactions to necessity.

There were also allegations made at the inquest that Ms Hodgetts had offered a man $10,000 to “get rid” of someone who had bothered her, but she denied those allegations.

“I never ever ever ever paid anyone to bump Paddy off,” she told the inquest. “I swear on my mother and father’s grave, I don’t know him and I never said that.

“I had money, yes, because I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t go out but I work hard.”

Michael Pangquee, a truck driver from Darwin, told the inquest he had several conversations with a man named “Richard” about Mr Moriarty.

Mr Pangquee told the court he met Richard through work in 2018 and over the course of a number of evenings drinking, Richard told him he was with another man when Mr Moriarty and his dog were shot and killed, then the pair had a drink over the bodies and buried them.

“Richard” claimed he had known Mr Moriarty when he went missing in 2017, and gave evidence in the first half of the inquest in 2018 that the pair had been friends.

Officer in charge of the case Detective Sergeant Allen said significant police resources had been devoted to investigating Mr Pangquee’s and the other allegations, but there was little evidence to support either scenario.

The Coroners Act states Mr Cavanagh is not permitted to include a finding or comment that a person may be guilty of an offence.

“However I will refer this investigation to the Commissioner of Police and the DPP,” he said. “For I believe offences may well have been committed in connection with the death of Patrick Joseph Moriarty.”

The NT Police said in 2022 that their case remained opened and reminded the public that the $250,000 reward still stands.